In the Gospel of St. Matthew (25:31-46), Jesus speaks of the Last Judgment, where the deeds of each will be laid bare, and the sheep will be separated from the goats; the saints will enter heaven, and the wicked will find themselves in hell. In the Nicene Creed, we profess what the Church has believed since the first centuries: Jesus “will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.”
Some people say there are only two guarantees in life: death and taxes. It’s not clear why taxes are guaranteed, but we will all die at some point. We hope to die by natural causes in old age surrounded by our loved ones. But regardless of how and when, all human beings are mortal, and you and I are human beings. Our life in this world is limited and will come to an end.
Christians, some Jews, and many Muslims, share a belief that after we die, there will be a judgment. Our Lord taught this in the Gospels, and the Church has confirmed and defended it for the last 20 centuries. There are two parts to the judgment of the living and the dead: our own particular judgment and the universal judgment.
In our own particular judgment, each one of us will appear before Our Lord, in the presence of the angels and saints. Our hearts, our secret deeds, and all of our thoughts will be revealed. We will stand or fall before the King of kings by the content of our lives and the quality of our hearts.
In the universal judgment, the whole human race will stand or fall before God. The hearts, secret deeds, and thoughts of all human beings will be judged. And God, like the king in the Gospel of St. Matthew, will separate the sheep from the goats. He will separate the righteous, the sons of light, from the wicked, the sons of darkness. The righteous will shine like the stars when their hearts and secret deeds are revealed. But the wicked will enter into darkness, damnation, and the eternal fire.
In the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Churches of the Byzantine Rite, the deacon’s petition mentions the judgment: “That the end of our life may be Christian, painless, unashamed and peaceful, and for a good defense before the awesome Judgment Seat of Christ, let us ask.”
The story may not be historically accurate, but some say that Stalin, the communist dictator of the Soviet Union, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people, on his deathbed, amid frightening hallucinations, died with his clenched fist in the air as if railing against God at his last breath just as he had done during his lifetime. The end of his life was not spiritually painless and peaceful, but marked by fear, anger, and pride.
On the other hand, stories abound of monks and nuns, holy men and women, dying with a slight smile on their face and the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,” on their lips. They enter eternal life with pure hearts, full of love and joy. They meet death without spiritual pain. Their death is unashamed and peaceful. For us too, a life full of good deeds, treating other people, especially the least among us, as Christ, will provide a good defense before the awesome judgement seat of Christ.
In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus tells us how to make a good defense. It is not only to donate to a food bank or volunteer at the soup kitchen. It is to show mercy and love to every person that God puts in front of us. With humility and innocence like sheep, we will see other people as valuable and important, no matter how small and insignificant they seem. With hearts full of love and mercy, we will treat other people as we treat Christ Himself.
On Sundays, if we approach the food and drink of immortality, the Body and Blood of Christ, because we love our Lord Jesus Christ, we must also love one another, made in His image and likeness. If we can’t love the people we can see, how can we love the God we cannot see?
As we prepare for Great Lent, we may prepare our good defense: to cultivate mercy and humility in our hearts, and love others as we love Christ. Then, when we come to the end our life, we will have a good defense before the awesome judgment seat of Christ.
Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash
